• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Kevin & Sluggo Cut At KLOS

salary.png
I made that in Toledo, OH 6 yeas ago. lol.

While California ranks third-most expensive for a single adult to live comfortably at $113,652, it only ranks fifth-most expensive for two working adults raising two children. The total family income should be at least $276,724 in the latter case.
 
While California ranks third-most expensive for a single adult to live comfortably at $113,652, it only ranks fifth-most expensive for two working adults raising two children. The total family income should be at least $276,724 in the latter case.
Which makes California the state where if retirees aren't eating their principles, they're eating their cat's food.
 
Which makes California the state where if retirees aren't eating their principles, they're eating their cat's food.

Some retirees.

Consistently overlooked in the "California is expensive" discussion is anyone who bought a house decades ago.

If you bought a middle-class mid-century home in the Los Angeles, San Diego, Central Coast or Bay Areas in the 1970s, you probably paid off that $40,000-$80,000 plus interest 20 years ago and you have an asset worth between one and five million dollars, depending on neighborhood.

Even if you paid more than that and got in later, you're probably okay. Our neighborhood was built in the early 90s and the houses went for the low $200,000s when new---which seemed expensive at the time. The median home price for our neighborhood in August was $1.2 million, up 2.2% over the previous August, with an average price per square foot of $732.

The people who got into these houses with 30-year mortgages made their last payment two years ago---and for many of them, that monthly mortgage payment was likely the same as it was in 1992.

So, some of us are very blessed.

The people for whom it isn't working are young families. Our daughter, son-in-law and grandbabies moved to Georgia two and a half years ago because they wanted to own a home. They wound up with four bedrooms, three baths, two stories and an acre-plus for $239,000. It's good for them today, but the downside is that in 50 years, they're very unlikely to have anywhere near the increase in asset value they would have enjoyed over the same period in California if they'd been able to buy here.
 
Last edited:
The people for whom it isn't working are young families. Our daughter, son-in-law and grandbabies moved to Georgia two and a half years ago because they wanted to own a home. They wound up with four bedrooms, three baths, two stories and an acre-plus for $239,000. It's good for them today, but the downside is that in 50 years, they're very unlikely to have anywhere near the increase in asset value they would have enjoyed over the same period in California if they'd been able to buy here.
Not necessarily. As the exoduses continue from all the poorly managed and real estate bubbled states, demand will be driven up in the areas people are fleeing to, and industry will also re-locate, creating higher paying jobs whose disposable income sellers will try to capture with higher home prices. You cited home prices beginning in the 1970s, but my grandparents paid something like $8,000 for their home here decades before that, and they were even cheaper still before that. It's been a long, slow climb to where things sit today, and the same things that changed southern California from citrus farmland into a high-priced metropolis (dust bowl immigration, the aerojet industry, etc.) will happen again to the places people are flooding into now.
 
You cited home prices beginning in the 1970s, but my grandparents paid something like $8,000 for their home here decades before that, and they were even cheaper still before that.

Let's stay focused on apples to apples. Your comment was about retirees eating cat food. Are your grandparents still with us?

I'm a grandfather now. I'll be 69 in March. Anyone even ten years older than I am is unlikely to have bought a house before 1970.

It's been a long, slow climb to where things sit today, and the same things that changed southern California from citrus farmland into a high-priced metropolis (dust bowl immigration, the aerojet industry, etc.) will happen again to the places people are flooding into now.

We'll see. The median price for a home in the DFW metro is $439,000 as of last month---a dip of 8.5% year-over-year.

Will the people buying homes there now be able to cash out for a million-five in 30 years? Who knows?

What we can say is that there are very few places in the U.S. where increasing real estate equity value has created wealth the way it has in California over the past 100 years.
 
Last edited:
Will the people buying homes there now be able to cash out for a million-five in 30 years? Who knows?

What we can say is that there are very few places in the U.S. where increasing real estate value equity has created wealth the way it has in California over the past 100 years.

As you say it's a mixed blessed, because new home buyers are priced out. A similar thing is happening in Montana, where millionaires are buying up land inspired by the TV show Yellowstone. It's a windfall for existing property owners, but devastating for young people who can no longer afford to buy homes where they grew up. The current view is to blame government for inflation, buy truthfully, it's really being caused by people who are looking to make money on their property.
 
As you say it's a mixed blessed, because new home buyers are priced out. A similar thing is happening in Montana, where millionaires are buying up land inspired by the TV show Yellowstone. It's a windfall for existing property owners, but devastating for young people who can no longer afford to buy homes where they grew up. The current view is to blame government for inflation, buy truthfully, it's really being caused by people who are looking to make money on their property.

There's also a healthy dose of supply and demand involved.

L.A. and Southern California stayed relatively cheap for a long time, because there was land to build on. The trouble came when that land got so far out that it became punishing to commute---and values for homes closer to L.A. proper began to rise.

San Francisco ran out of buildable space and was expensive much sooner.

Central Coast cities like San Luis Obispo enacted growth ordinances in the 1960s that put a cap on the amount of new construction, which drove up home prices there. And when you get to essentially pristine spots like Montana and Wyoming, there's going to be enormous local opposition to significant growth.
 
Let's stay focused on apples to apples. Your comment was about retirees eating cat food. Are your grandparents still with us? I'm a grandfather now. I'll be 69 in March. Anyone even ten years older than I am is unlikely to have bought a house before 1970.
I lost my last one three years ago at the age of 92. Her lifelong neighbor across the street, a few years older than her, passed shortly after. They both married their husbands and bought their homes straight out of high school in the late 1940s. Neither of my grandparents or the neighbor and her husband across the street were financially privileged in any way when they bought their places either. Both started out in very ordinary jobs. I imagine there are still some other people kicking around out there who fit this profile and bought before 1970. :)
What we can say is that there are very few places in the U.S. where increasing real estate equity value has created wealth the way it has in California over the past 100 years.
Undoubtedly. All I meant to convey was that you probably shouldn't worry about your daughter's move, as most of the destinations people are flooding into are bound to experience considerable real estate appreciation in the long run, even if the massive explosion in home values that happened here doesn't repeat itself in each of them to the same degree. Honestly, I'm more worried about the future of this area's housing values. The San Andreas is becoming comically overdue, to the point where living here is now a game of Russian roulette. And because seismological models now show that ground amplification effects will cause many areas to shake much harder than the expected big one's magnitude itself would inflict, there are going to be a lot of people whose home values drop to $0 in one day. Few can bear the costs of earthquake insurance. Have a look at the dark, deep red waves that roll through the L.A. basin in this official animation. Those are basically MMI intensity X (with the "regular" red being IX). The effects of each MMI intensity level are outlined in the 6 tables pf appendix 1 in this document. It won't be a pretty picture. Maybe a lot more of us should be moving to Georgia...
 
If the job listing to replace K&S had offered a higher salary, we wouldn't have gone down this road.

The job listing says: "PLUS talent fees, incentives, and benefits." I've already talked about talent fees. Most DJs I know are out hosting events several nights a week. That's extra money, plus a chance to engage with listeners. At one time it wasn't unusual to see Jim Ladd or Rodney Bingenheimer hosting concerts around LA. They got paid for that. As far as incentives, it might mean ratings incentives. That's something that should be part of every talent contract. The one thing not mentioned is endorsements, and as I said, you can make more from endorsements than a salary if you have a good agent.

In my view, radio talent has gotten lazy. They want to get paid lots of money to play their favorite music for a few hours a day. That's not what the job is about. Dick Clark was in song publishing back in the 50s & 60s. Tom Donohue was in concert promotion. We all saw Wolfman Jack hosting Midnight Special on TV. So if you're really talented, and not just a liner card reader, you can make a good living.
 
The job listing says: "PLUS talent fees, incentives, and benefits." I've already talked about talent fees. Most DJs I know are out hosting events several nights a week. That's extra money, plus a chance to engage with listeners.
And most DJs I know in markets like NY, Miami, LA, Chicago, Houston don't have any paid appearances during the average week. Clients realize, today, that the classic remote with a DJ does not draw much interest any more.
At one time it wasn't unusual to see Jim Ladd or Rodney Bingenheimer hosting concerts around LA.
Concert promoters today don't look to radio for presenters anywhere nearly as much as they used to. And often the "deal" is to have the station provide talent and promotion for free in exchange for "WZZZ presents Billy Bob in concert at the Big Business Arena..."
They got paid for that. As far as incentives, it might mean ratings incentives. That's something that should be part of every talent contract. The one thing not mentioned is endorsements, and as I said, you can make more from endorsements than a salary if you have a good agent.
Most people on the air even in rated markets don't have an agent. If you look at the pay scale for the LA posting, no agent is going to go for someone in that pay range. Yes, some have ratings bonuses, but generally only in daytime shifts. And endorsements only come with very big name talents.
In my view, radio talent has gotten lazy. They want to get paid lots of money to play their favorite music. That's not what the job is about. Dick Clark was in song publishing back in the 50s & 60s. Tom Donohue was in concert promotion. We all saw Wolfman Jack hosting Midnight Special on TV. So if you're really talented, and not just a liner card reader, you can make a good living.
You are talking about just a couple of very high profile major market or syndicated talents that could leverage their positions.
 
Undoubtedly. All I meant to convey was that you probably shouldn't worry about your daughter's move, as most of the destinations people are flooding into are bound to experience considerable real estate appreciation in the long run, even if the massive explosion in home values that happened here doesn't repeat itself in each of them to the same degree.

Thanks for that, but not everyone "floods" into the same areas. Based on where their job offers were, our kids chose a rural area about 60 miles east of Atlanta. It's growing, but there's no case to be made for the idea that they'd see a million-dollar return above purchase price on 30 years of ownership the way our neighbors here in Folsom have. If the house triples in value over that time (to a shade under $750,000), that'd be extraordinary.


Honestly, I'm more worried about the future of this area's housing values. The San Andreas is becoming comically overdue, to the point where living here is now a game of Russian roulette. And because seismological models now show that ground amplification effects will cause many areas to shake much harder than the expected big one's magnitude itself would inflict, there are going to be a lot of people whose home values drop to $0 in one day. Few can bear the costs of earthquake insurance. Have a look at the dark, deep red waves that roll through the L.A. basin in this official animation. Those are basically MMI intensity X (with the "regular" red being IX). The effects of each MMI intensity level are outlined in the 6 tables pf appendix 1 in this document. It won't be a pretty picture.

Well, just look at how Palos Verdes is slipping away, and destroying multi-million dollar homes in the process:


Maybe a lot more of us should be moving to Georgia...

I interviewed a guy during the Laguna Hills fires in the 90s about what he'd do if his house burned. He said he'd move...probably to Arizona. Tired of the quakes, floods, slides, fires---and at that time the riots were a fresh memory.

Then I asked him what he'd do if his house survived, and he said he'd stay.

I asked why, given quakes, floods, slides, fires and riots.

And he said:

"Yeah, but every day when I wake up and there aren't any of those things, my first thought is "Dude! I live in Laguna Beach!"

We visit the kids fairly frequently now that I'm retired. Neither my wife nor I can picture living anywhere in Georgia.
 
And most DJs I know in markets like NY, Miami, LA, Chicago, Houston don't have any paid appearances during the average week. Clients realize, today, that the classic remote with a DJ does not draw much interest any more.

Concert promoters today don't look to radio for presenters anywhere nearly as much as they used to. And often the "deal" is to have the station provide talent and promotion for free in exchange for "WZZZ presents Billy Bob in concert at the Big Business Arena..."

Most people on the air even in rated markets don't have an agent. If you look at the pay scale for the LA posting, no agent is going to go for someone in that pay range. Yes, some have ratings bonuses, but generally only in daytime shifts. And endorsements only come with very big name talents.

You are talking about just a couple of very high profile major market or syndicated talents that could leverage their positions.

Thanks, David. You saved me a lengthy reply. The days of every jock in L.A. having personal appearances and gigs as off-camera voices or game show hosts are long gone.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom